Marlins Good Medicine For Maine and Delgado

I don't know if you can say these were really "problems" in the typical sense - sure, John Maine, April's Pitcher of the Month, had limped through May like a three legged dog, losing his last two in a row and allowing 11 earned runs over three starts. And sure, Carlos Delgado had been hitting more like Carlos Marcello than himself all season but the Mets were still leading the National League in victories going into Saturday's 7-2 victory over the Marlins.

The victory was the Mets' 6th straight in Florida. Maine has a bit of a history already against the Marlins having taken a no-hitter into the 7th against the Marlins back on April the 18th and Delgado, since Willie moved him out of the cleanup spot in the order, has gone 8 for 16.


Pow - Right to the Moon, Alice!

His two shots traveled an estimated at 451 and 447 feet, respectively meaning the length of nearly three football fields of homeruns. Impressive for a man who is not hitting anywhere near his weight. He's hitting .235 and weighs an estimated 265 pounds. His 5 homers represent only 11% of his hits whereas in his career, about 23% of his hits have been homers. In theory, he should have 10 homers already this season so not only is he not hitting, he isn't hitting for typical power, either.

But for a night anyway, 2 monster shots and 5 RBIs is about a week's worth of work this season. And yes, hitting 5th in the order means the Marlins pitchers went with the averages, walking David Wright 3 times to get to Delgado. And Wright is only hitting .265 so what does that say about pitcher eagerness to face Delgado?

For the second night in a row, the Mets suffered injuries against these Marlins though. One night after Shawn Green suffered an English football-style injury, Paul Lo Duca was hit on the elbow by a Marlin pitcher and newcomer Carlos Gomez suffered hammy troubles.

It meant that Endy Chavez was moved to right field, where he made yet another spectacular catch and David Newhan took over in left field. Not even the patchwork outfield could fell them.

Gomez's injury doesn't look too bad - "I can do almost everything now." he said. The only time I experience a little pain is when I squat." - well good news for the Mets, bad news for his toilet habits...


One inning in, Delgado was showing some determination...

Of his pitching improvement, Maine didn't credit facing the Marlins but instead hinted that "It was an attitude thing. I was just fed up with the way I was pitching."

Is that all it takes?

Or the aggressive approach, the balls kept low in the strike zone? Not unlike Delgado's decision to stop pulling the ball so much, which allowed him to take two away pitches deep?

*****

Keep an eye out: the Phillies took another from the Braves, again showing the Mets how easy it can be to do it, dropping the Braves to 3 1/2 games off the mark and bringing the Phillies above .500 for the first time all season.